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I’m currently reading Ursula Hegi’s The Vision of Emma Blau. Hegi is a master at using dashes, colons, and semicolons, so I am going to use excerpts from her books. Then YOU tell ME what you think the pattern is for using dashes, colons, and semicolons.

(I would rather use the word “pattern” instead of “rule,” because application is more important and practical than just memorizing a bunch of rules that mean nothing out of context.)

Find all dashes and semicolons. Find the colons and commas. Why are they there?

He’d urge you to buy American stocks -- railroad and mining and telephone -- while warning you not to make big plans based on shaky optimism: "Ne batissez pas des châteaux en Suede” -- Don’t go building castles in Sweden.

It was small and on the top floor of the same boarding house where -- during his first few months in the city -- he had paid fifty-five cents week to sleep on the chairs and sofas in the parlor with three men from Italy.

Harsh work had catapulted her from being a girl of fifteen to being a woman of sixty-five -- nothing in between for her -- but now that she had leisure for the first time in half a century, she could feel herself growing younger as if her life had opted to reverse itself.

Miss Garland felt certain there had to be community in the house, people who got together and entertained one another; yet, except for the Blaus’ annual tenants’ parties -- Christmas and summer solstice -- she was never invited. It had to be an oversight -- she was sure of it.

One afternoon, when Tobias’ belly hurt because his Aunt Pearl was drinking tea with his mother again, he toddled from them -- they don’t see me they don’t -- and into Greta’s room where the dollhouse was set up on the table.

And for the finale... I’m throwing you in the deep end. ONE very complex sentence, but if you work it out, it becomes clear and simple.

Though she would not forget the pain, she would forget its intensity until two months later when she’d be taken with a sequence of those very same spasms, leaving her chilled and sweaty -- that too was familiar; that too -- on the hottest day of July, no wind at all, the lake sullen beneath the blinding sky; and when Dr. Miles was called to the house -- a month early for the baby to arrive -- the people of Winnipesaukee lit candles for the third wife of Stefan Blau who, as she pushed her child into the world, suddenly wanted to hold back, keep it sheltered because she was terrified it would not be welcomed.

Have fun.

Last edited by Anja on Thu Apr 01, 2010 5:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ann Grover

"What remains of a story after it is finished? Another story..." Eli Wiesel

Ann, this is quite interesting to me, and I'm not sure. When to use a dash is always puzzling to me. Is it truly a matter of being less formal?

The dash seems to set things apart in a more stark way, and I'm a bit leery of it, but I just have a "gut" feeling that it needs to be there sometimes. Is that strange? Never mind, don't answer that question. lol

Thanks for your helps. I'm not really a regular visitor, but need to be. If I can ever get beyond dial-up internet, I will try to buckle down and relearn some grammar. If old dogs can learn new tricks, surely I can do that.

You did exactly what I wanted you to do... you analyzed the sentences.... came up with reasons for the punctuation used.

It seems to me that the dashes are used when it is something added that is not a necessary part of the sentence, perhaps for descriptive information.

The semi-colons are used when joining two sentences, right?

Yes and yes.

Dashes set off parenthetical information... or non-essential material... in the same way a comma might. Lift that portion out and you still have a sentence.

(When you are writing, that is the test. If you don't have a complete sentence after lifting away the "dashed" material, you need to re-write.)

Semicolons join two independent clauses. In other words, two complete sentences that are very closely linked.

She was hungry; she hadn't eaten all day.

Semicolons separate coordinate elements which have been joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) but which are internally punctuated. In other words, see all the commas in the following example? Putting a comma AFTER a province or state is completely correct, but what a mish mash that would be. A semicolon clears up any confusion.

Just remember to use TWO hyphens to make a dash, and no spaces between the words and the dashes. (Some programs will automatically fuse the two hyphens as soon as they are typed. There is no symbol on a keyboard for a dash.)

I hope I've got that clarified now, after trying to make it easier to see / understand by using spaces.

Ann Grover

"What remains of a story after it is finished? Another story..." Eli Wiesel

Yes, Ann, thanks. I discovered the two hyphen dash thing in writing challenge articles, and just forgot. It works on my Word program, but not on the forum board, I believe. Also good to be reminded, because it's easy for me to confuse hyphens and dashes, thus I left spaces.
Thanks again.